Readers are aware that Bowdoin College in Maine recently held a student body referendum for a full academic and cultural boycott of Israel.
It failed miserably.
I have a post at National Review looking back on the referendum, and how the SJP boycotters are doubling-down on their absolutist view of the conflict, Brainwashed at Bowdoin: Anti-Israel Boycotters Miss a Teachable Moment:
Here is an excerpt, but head over to National Review for the whole thing. And share it widely on Facebook and Twitter, or email to friends, using the links at National Review. This is a story that needs to be told:
Certainly I was happy with the result. But I would have been even happier had it led SJP leaders to reflect on why their absolutist arguments found so little traction with fellow progressive students. The defeat of the Bowdoin boycott resolution was not just a “pro-Israel” victory but also a rejection of anti-Israel absolutism. The willingness to sacrifice the academic freedom of the entire community to score political points against Israel was a bridge too far even for the progressive Bowdoin campus.That lesson has not been learned….
The boycotters have constructed an intellectual prison from which it will be hard to escape.
For example, here is SJP’s Facebook reaction to the vote, along with two comments that I thought were pretty good:
This all may make the boycotters feel good, but in reality they are doing long-term damage to peace, to Palestinians, and to their own intellectual integrity.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
